This post covers what I need to do: Use of local datatype to prevent grid load; however when I do this at $(document).ready(), the grid loads itself but the data then displays blank rows. (I notice that the number of rows returned is correct for the ajax call).
I've also tried specifying the model's BeforeAjaxRequest to set datatype:'local', but this doesn't happen in time to prevent the call either.
How can I stop the first grid load of a jqGrid declared in an MVC view?